


Wounded Heart

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: Drama, Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-11-18
Updated: 1999-11-18
Packaged: 2018-11-10 17:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11131587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived atDue South Archive. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onDue South Archive collection profile.





	Wounded Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).
    
    
    Disclaimer: They aren't mine.  They're owned by a bunch of rich,
    powerful people who would gain
    
    
    absolutely nada by bugging a poor college student. 
    
    
    Author's Note: Big tyk's out to Melanie for beta'ing and the title.
    You is a lifesaver! 
    
    Wounded Heart
    by Demeter, Princess of Earth
    ambizworks@powerweb.net
    
    "RAY!!"
    
    I don't remember diving off the Ferris wheel, or Thatcher following me.
    All I could see, all 
    
    
    I could hear, was Ray.  Ray crumbling to the ground.  Ray's blood
    pumping from the bullet hole 
    
    
    in his chest.  Ray's heart slowing.  I had to get to him.  That's
    all that mattered. 
    
    Suddenly, I was beside him.  I wanted to pull him into my arms the second
    my knees hit the 
    
    
    ground, but my training prevented that.  Instead I pressed my hands
    to the gushing hole in his 
    
    
    chest, feeling the slick heat of his blood seeping through my fingers.
    I barely noticed 
    
    
    Thatcher leaning over me, or Ray Kowalski yelling for an ambulance.
    
    "Ray!" I whispered, afraid to speak aloud.  "Ray, look
    at me!" 
    
    His eyes, which had been drifting closed, snapped open again and focused
    on me.  "Benny?" he 
    
    
    rasped.  I could barely hear him
    
    "I'm here Ray!" I said, tears forming in my eyes.  "I'm
    not gonna let you go!" 
    
    "I...sorry, Benny," Ray said.  He closed his eyes again, clenching
    them tight against the tears 
    
    
    that glistened there.  
    
    "There's nothing for you to be sorry for," I said.   //God,
    don't you dare take him from me!// 
    
    Ray nodded, ever so slightly.  "Didn't say....." he coughed
    slightly, then took a breath.  
    
    
    "Didn't....... say goodbye.  Didn't say......a lot." 
    
    "There's nothing to say.  You never needed to say anything."
    
    "Yes.  Have to....have to say this."  His breathing was getting
    raspier.  It didn't matter, I 
    
    
    could still hear him clearly.  "Have to tell you......."
    
    "Tell me what Ray?"  I pressed harder against the wound, ignoring
    his slight whimper of pain. I 
    
    
    knew what was coming.  
    
    "I love you," he said, so quietly.  
    
     I knew in that instant that if he died, I wouldn't have been able to
    live.  I would follow him 
    
    
    into eternity.  I felt his hand weakly brush my cheek, then fall
    away.  Then he was gone, lapsed 
    
    
    into unconsciousness.  I just held him tighter, as if by my touch
    alone he would live.  "I know 
    
    
    Ray.  I love you too." 
    
    Then the paramedics arrived, and I was pulled off Ray.  By Kowalski and
    Thatcher, I guess.  I 
    
    
    say guess because I honestly don't know.  One second I was clinging
    to Ray, the next Kowalski 
    
    
    and the Inspector were supporting me.    They were trying to reassure
    me, telling me everything 
    
    
    was going to be fine, that Ray would be fine.  I don't know if I
    believed them.  
    
    I barely noticed that I was being helped into the ambulance and seated
    next to Ray's stretcher. 
    
    
    I do remember suddenly holding his hand again.  I have a very distinct
    image of Kowalski's face 
    
    
    at that moment.  He looked shocked, angry, and even a little jealous.
    I didn't understand that 
    
    
    until much later.
    
    The next four hours were an agonizingly slow torture waiting for news
    with the Vecchios and the 
    
    
    entire 27th.
    
    
    
    The doctor came out and said something about touch and go, about
    not being out of the woods yet.  
    
    
    Then we could see him.  
    
    I let the family go in first, though it took every ounce of will I had
    left not to plow into 
    
    
    that room at the first opportunity.  Finally, too long in my opinion,
    they came out.  A tired-
    
    
    looking Tony and Maria escorted the weeping Mrs. Vecchio down the
    hall as Francesca stopped 
    
    
    before me.  She was talking to me, but I don't cleary recall what
    she said, only that she was 
    
    
    crying.  Then I was inside and next to him.
    
    
    He looked terrible.  Not at all like my beloved friend, and at the same
    time just like him.  I 
    
    
    flashed back briefly to another hospital room, another bed, and
    Ray looking just as terrible.  
    
    
    God, was that only four years ago?  Seemed like eternity.  
    
    I thought he was asleep, but I was wrong.  As I stood looking down at
    his waxen face, he began 
    
    
    to speak.  His voice was weak and raspy, but it was Heaven's own
    music to me. 
    
    "Just like old times, huh?" he rasped.  
    
    "Unhappily yes." Somehow I managed a smile.  His eyes opened
    and focused on me as I grasped his 
    
    
    hand.  He looked like hell.  
    
    
    
    "Don't worry, it's just a flesh wound," he grinned slightly,
    then coughed.  "I always wanted to 
    
    
    say that.  Don't feel as good as I thought it would."
    
    "Ray..."  
    
    "Hey Benny, you Mounties still always get your man?" Ray asked,
    a grin pulling at his lips. 
    
    I sighed and nodded, grinning slightly myself. "We try to, yes."
    
    "Then go get him, Benny," he said.  "You go catch that
    bastard for me." 
    
    "But Ray..."
    
    "Don't worry," he said, "I'll still be here when you get
    back.  We'll talk then." 
    
    "All right, Ray." He smiled then and squeezed my hand. "I'll
    come back as soon as I can.  I 
    
    
    promise."
    
    "Be careful Benny," he said.  
    
    "Aren't I always?" I smiled down at him.
    
    "No," he grinned, eyes drifting closed.  His medication was
    kicking in.  
    
    "I have to go, Ray." I squeezed his hand one last time and
    turned toward the door. 
    
    "Good luck Benny," I heard him say just as I stepped out into
    the hall. 
    
    I sighed and headed back to the waiting room to collect Kowalski.  We
    had a lot to do if we 
    
    
    were to catch Muldoon quickly.  After all, I had a promise to keep.
    
    End
    
    


End file.
